


Returning Calls

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: ? - Freeform, F/F, i hope this comes out angsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-05-19 06:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5956717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina goes after her family (and happy ending?) in NYC but only Emma knows her. This makes way more sense if you read the first part of the series, I think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

     It was  _tradition_ for Swan family Friday nights. Video games (or board games that one time the power was out), and pizza til one or both of them passed out. Henry was in full force of act one, belly-down on the couch rapidly hitting the x-button to kill virtual zombies, when he heard three soft knocks at the apartment door.   
    

     "Mom- pizza guy." He called and Emma grabbed the money off the table and hurried to the door.  
  
      "Don't worry about the change-" Emma counted out bills before she realized she recognized the gloved hand of  _not_ the pizza guy. " _Regina?"_ Emma heard a break in her throat as she pulled the dark-haired woman into a tight but awkward hug. Awkward, because it took Regina a few seconds to catch up and reciprocate. "What are you-"  
  
      "Mom? Hurry up I can't wage war on the undead on an empty stomach with no back up- I'm getting  _killed_ here." Emma and Regina heard from in the apartment and Regina felt herself freeze.   
  
      "Um- maybe you'd like to invite me in, Miss Swan." Regina couldn't help but notice Emma's hand still lingered on her upper arm; she couldn't help but notice it seemed to steady them both.   
  
     "Regina-"  
  
     " _Emma_ , yes fine. Can I come in,  _Emma?"_ She had to remind herself to keep her voice soft- despite her impatience to see her son, hug him, talk to him...not be remembered by him, her internal voice reminded her of that, too. Softness would have to rule here, she resigned.   
  
     "Of course." Emma was reeling. What about Pan's curse? How did Regina even find them? Did this mean she could stop lying to Henry now? Was their perfect life over? Had Regina heard those voicemails? "Henry..." Emma took a deep breath. "This is...my friend, Regina-" Henry smiled a 'hi' at the mother he didn't recognize, and Regina thought she could feel her heart break and be fixed in one quick second from that smile. "We, uh, have stuff to talk about inside, okay? Can't protect living humanity with you tonight, kid." Emma's eyes looked to Regina and the other woman looked like she could barely breathe. "Uh, Regina, would you like a drink or something?"  
  
     "It's very nice to see- meet you, Henry. Please excuse me interrupting your-" Regina's mind wanted her to say the words 'time with your mother' but the lump in her throat threatened to betray her  _softness._ "Game night." She mustered a smile with no small effort and couldn't manage to tear her eyes off her beautiful boy.   
  
    "Nah, it's okay. Mom would've held me back anyway." Henry offered Regina a conciliatory smile and stuck his tongue at Emma.  
  
    "You wish, kid." Emma ruffled his hair and gestured for Regina to follow her into her bedroom. 


	2. Chapter 2

     "You understand, I just had to see him." Regina was still out of breath, looking like she was about to keel over. She had been prepared, of course. For him to not remember her. It was pangs of shock she was experiencing, not even pangs of jealousy. It was something she couldn't quite process. And love. Emma gestured for Regina to sit on her bed once they got into her room. Regina took the water Emma offered her, and sat tentatively, letting the situation really sink in for herself.   
  
     "Regina- this life- this  _normal_ life for him-" Emma felt frozen, really. She'd been waiting for  _something_ , maybe Regina, to come back, and here she was. Cool water soothed Emma, too. Briefly.   
  
     "I know; of course, I'm- I'm sorry, I'm sorry this is sort of unraveling. I was hopeful maybe you'd.... found a way to call us back perhaps and  _that's_ how we returned. There are still a lot of questions. More now, I suppose. When I couldn't find Henry I was just...." Regina didn't panic anymore. She  _dealt_ with panic, she was a mother and a mayor, she definitely didn't panic. But she'd felt lost to be in Storybrooke again, without Henry. Without Emma.  
  
      "No, I- I wished for a way but..." Emma saw Regina's eyes sparkle to her face, almost disbelieving, and she knew she hadn't heard those voicemails. Maybe that should have been relieving. But it mostly just felt hard, and hard to explain. "Look... Regina, here's the thing. This life, well, I mean you knew it was  _perfect,_ that it'd be perfect for him. And it is, it really is." Emma sat next to Regina on the other side of the bed, closing her hands around the other woman's, both shaking just a little. Usually life didn't ring your doorbell when it was changing. And now, for the Swan-Mills' family it essentially had. That was a lot, even for people who could appreciate the palpable shifts.   
  
      Emma remembered driving away from Storybrooke, driving away from her parents, away from Regina. Henry's family as well as her own. Her own family. She shook that feeling away, that overwhelming sad, that resolved lesser trauma. She came to terms that she'd wished for this life, gotten it, and then realized she had something better all along. But Emma wasn't sure how to break this all to Henry. She looked back at Regina, who it seemed like had been holding her breath, barely keeping it together as it was. Her son just in the other room, without a hint of remembrance on his face. Emma couldn't imagine that pain for Regina, and she gripped her hands harder for it.   
  
     "But this is real for him here, we'll have to deal with that. But it isn't.... it's not  _right_ , you know? You have to know, Regina, all this time... this whole time I've been remembering and knowing that this life, as perfect as it is, just isn't _right_....wanting to tell him about you, about Storybrooke, I've felt like I've been split in half for months. I'm sorry, Regina." Emma took a deep breath, and saw Regina stiffen if possible. Emma's eyes felt teary, which she also felt like apologizing about. This whole thing felt like a bad situation, a mistake, something she should have been able to help them avoid.   
  
      Regina could only reason she looked mostly composed, all things considered. She had freed her right hand from Emma's grasp to pinch the bridge of her nose, holding back tears, feeling more like a child with every second, cursing at herself. This wasn't anything she had expected. To be sitting in Emma Swan's bed in her New York City apartment, with her son without memory of her- and did Emma Swan just apologize?  
  
      "What the hell are you sorry for?" The words came out in a flutter, betraying the calm Regina was furiously promising herself he was holding on to.   
  
      Emma blinked for  a second, blanching at the change in tone as Regina found something to focus on other than her probable pain. For that Emma was maybe thankful too, a calm in the swell of months of  _secrets_ and feelings and confusion. And now she had time to talk all of it out and what if it wasn't sounding right?  
  
     "I- I just mean-"  
  
      "What. Are you sorry for?" Regina dropped her other hand, reaching back to the nightstand for the forgotten glass of water. 


End file.
